Day 4: Biltmore Estate

Tuesday was our Biltmore day. We were on the fence about whether to go, as it was expensive ($300 for our family), but we decided it was something we wanted to see at least once. We had a 9:45 tour time and were on property shortly after 9. It took a while to wind through the estate and make it to the parking lot. It was a short walk to the house and we were inside by 9:35. The house is impressive and the tour was okay. It is self-guided with adult and kid versions. The kid version is told from the perspective of Cedric, the Vanderbilt's St. Bernard. Luke did that one, the rest of us had the regular. I felt like it was missing some basic information, like how long the house took to build, how much it cost, how much time the Vanderbilt's spent there, even the square footage. I think it would have been nice to have a quick movie (like 5 minutes) with that kind of information. The kids were asking similar questions as we were driving to the house and I assured them all their questions would be answered on the tour, but they weren't, so that was a little frustrating.

The tour was almost exactly an hour and we saw several rooms. Everyone's favorite was the library. George Vanderbilt (the Vanderbilt who commissioned the house) was an avid reader and book collector. He had 22,000 books in his collection and the library was beautiful and amazing. The basement was also fun, it had a bowling alley, gym, and a 70,000 gallon swimming pool. It also had several changing rooms (probably 10 for women and the same for men) as it was considered rude to walk through the house without being formally dressed. It was interesting to see the thick rock walls that support the weight of the heavy house. The kitchen area was also interesting, as were the staff living areas. It reminded me of Downton Abbey, although the bedrooms were nicer, they still had the same servant hierarchy. 

Bowling alley

The amazing library (no flash photography)

Jack checking out more books.

One of many staircases.

There was beautiful art throughout the house, including two Renoirs in the formal dining room. There were almost life-sized paintings of Mr. Hunt and Mr. Olmsted, the architect and landscape designer, in one of the living spaces; I thought it was nice that the Vanderbilts chose to honor them in that manner. Overall, I am glad we saw the house. It was beautiful, but ridiculously over-the-top and ostentatious (in my opinion). I can't imagine why anyone would feel the need to build a 175,000 (according to Google) square foot house. But, it was fun to see and it has certainly benefited the Asheville area as a tourist destination.

After the house, we went to the gift shops and then the gardens, which were amazing and beautiful. 

Heading into the garden

I complained to Thomas about how he stands behind me in pictures, so he made sure to be in front on this one.

Inside the greenhouse (little Biltmore in the background)

There were trains going throughout the greenhouse

Another train

Next, we drove to the stable and deerpark and had our picnic lunch. From there, we drove to Antler Village. Luke and the girls played on the playground for a bit and we walked through the barn area. They had a video playing and we stopped and watched for a little while. Antler Village is another collection of restaurant and shops, including the country's most visited winery. They do free tastings, but since we don't drink (and we had the kids) we didn't sign up. However, we asked if we could walk through and they let us. We got to walk through a long underground tunnel with signs that talked about winemaking. I was hoping to see the vineyards, but I am not sure where they were. 

Luke posing with Cedric the St. Bernard

In the pretty tunnel

In all, it took us about 5 hours to complete our visit. We would have liked to hike a bit, but Thomas' toe and the weather (it rained off and on) were deterrents. Even without hiking, we still walked over 5 miles.

Meanwhile, the Wills had gone to a cool "retrocade" in downtown Asheville with old and new pinball machines and arcades. I thought we would join them, but most of the family wanted to go back to the cabin and relax. We got back around 2:30 and it was still drizzly out. I went in the hottub with Luke and Anna. We played games and had a quiet afternoon. The Wills got back around 4 and Kayce and I went to Food Lion. We had pancakes, bacon and fruit for dinner. When the kids went to bed, we tried an escape room game and failed. It was rated as really difficult and it was! Another nice day in the books!